The Turtle Duck
by WrittenPhoto
Summary: The secret of herbalism lies in the fact that we all become medicine when we give ourselves to the purpose of healing and nurturing. –Jesse Wolf Hardin.
1. Swamp People

"Swampy, Swampy, Swampy." Cupun splashed the water and a woman with wrinkles at the edge of her eyes giggled softly, her hair was brown and speckled with white from the strain of her lifestyle. The stink of swamp water reeked through their nostrils, but they paid no mind. A squeal in the forest revealed the sound of a squealing lemur. The woman popped her head up, causing one of her older sons to giggle comically at the sight of her questioning face.

"Why'd it yell Bo?" She whispered, he hands cupping around her ears as she peeked over a crate on their porch. The porch they were all seated on wrapped around their house. The wood was darkened to a deep brown, the edges softened from the water that surrounded them as it softly floated down the river. Currently it was hooked to the base of a wildly rooted tree so the rest of the family hunting in the boats are able to find their way home.

"Dun know." The fifteen year old stood shirtless with just cloth wrapped around his hips, his deeply tanned skin showing his Water Nation heritage. "Pops say's that Kirou can tell the difference between lemur screams. Wake him up from his a' nap."

The Mother smiled a little bit and looked into the open doorway of the house to see a toddler sleeping in a cluster of blankets with his thumb stuck in his mouth. A bird tweeted from a branch in the house and the child nestled in deeper with his hoard piled around him. The woman popped up from behind her crate she had let herself lean on. Cupun, her second youngest clutched at her skirts as she got up. A wash of immense feeling fell over her, she stumbled a bit and Bo reached for her arm and steadied her. He gazed at her worried, but Pops has always said Ma got these times were she got really weird.

The Mother grasped the crate and willed her legs to bring her to the other side of the house, walking through the doorway and out the next to the other side of the house. The Father of the many children she seemed to hold was gently using his water bending to drift the family boat across the water. His boat was full of kill from his hunt, fish in a net in front of him. Sitting in his lap though was a brown haired child with her locks resting on her pale cheeks, tear trails whispering soft lullabies on the soft creamy flesh. He had her wrapped in his shirt, his lean muscles quivered when he used his bending. When his approach happened, the Mother swooped to where her breasts touched the wooden boards that kept the house afloat. Cupun watching curiously by her side. The man carefully shifted the girl into his arms only for the child to be wrapped in his lovers arms before he could notice. The child awoke quickly with that sudden movement and began wailing for her Mother.

_"Shh, Set my lines by the river bed….~"_The child cooed softly, her chubby hands grasping for the singing woman who smiled upon the child who looked to be of the age Cupun was. He was barely out of his toddler days he was, but was capable of memory, perhaps the child could show them how she ended in their swamp. She rocked the child and looked to her husband with a questioning eye as he washed the small boat onto their porch.

"S'een her over yonder by the rooted brush in the north, cryin o'ver her Mamma, askin for her Brothers asking fore her Pops too, thinkin she's abandoned she is." The man spoke this in thought as the fish were picked from the boat, hitting the wooden boards with a thump. The child in the woman's arms cried softly in her sleep and she cooed at it, whispering the broken lullaby she'd been taught by an equally broken person.

"Can we keep her?" Cupun whispered softly, still holding his Mothers northern water tribe accent, regal and poised it was. The man chuckled and looked expectantly at the spot where his wife was at, but it was empty and his eyes bugged out of his head, causing Bo to laugh while trying to lug the fish to the gutting table. He quickly released it when his Pop smacked him into the water.

Meanwhile, the Mother softly padded into her home, making way to the nest her youngest had made. Kirou was very still when he slept, so the woman set the young girl by him while still wrapped in her lovers shirt. The girls eyes popped open on their own accord, her eyes wide with fear as the woman sat down beside the two children.

The woman tilted her head at the girl before slowly smoothing out the child's brown locks as she stared at the yellow eyes that reminded her of the sunrise.. Trouble loomed deep in her pupils the woman saw, but she didn't care. A kiss to the forehead and a soft hum, the new daughter was asleep.

* * *

I grew. Different I was from my new Brothers, but I grew all the same. I don't remember much from before they found me, but the memories were still there like a kite long forgotten in a tree, still fluttering, but never seen. My Brothers made sure that I had felt at home, and they would never make me feel along and unwanted.

I still remember my true Mother though. She was fresh faced with sharp features unique only to her nation. Her skin was pale like fresh milk, almost as clear as the bubble foaming up at the froffy edges. When I was little, I could recall my Father remarking about how her eyes looked like melted butter in the sun. She slapped him. The last things I remember are hiding behind her skirt while she faced off with soldiers, her hands wielding fire as she scowled at them with harsh movements in her chubby body filled with fat from our past residences. My Brothers were trying to protect me when she went down, but they fell just as soon. I don't remember how I got away or when I did, I just remember sloshing through swamp water for hours until curling around some tree roots.

I don't very much think of my Father from before though. I think he came by only occasionally, just enough time to give me a wooden ostrich horse and a jade pendant from some faraway place. He wore many layers of armor and he built a playhouse out of stone for us in the back yard. His smile was straight and formal, his hands were clasped behind him as if awaiting an order from a higher up. Every time he bended earth, my brothers and I would try and mimic him, those times were few and far between from him leaving for long periods of time. One of my brothers was actually able to bend the earth. The relief that pushed its way through his eyes then, it was just remarkable.

The only emotions I remember in my household was grief and relief. Grief from the times that a brother would accidently bend fire with my Mother sadly watching in a corner, relief when they purchased themselves a firm hold in earth bending. The rest of the emotions were lost on me, for I was constantly worried on, worried that I might bend fire, or that I might bend earth. But I was normal, like a fox antelope that littered the plains near the train tracks. I felt pressure from the idea of bending, was I to bend or not? Was I to be a prodigy from my Father or my Mother? I was neither, and that was a relief and pure grief from both of their parts.

Although most of my childhood with my birth family was horrible in many terms, my new family actually felt better. Honest to the spirits, it actually felt nice, like warm soup when you're sick. Buniq was the Mother of all the boys on the house boat, and her warm wrinkly skin was soft to my cheeks when I rubbed against her neck for comfort was absolutely heaven. I had four new brothers when she took me in. Bo, the oldest, Cupun, Kirou, and finally the baby Nilak.

Harshul her husband and Buniq once lived in the Northern Water tribe. Despite his exterior of being warm and harmless looking, Harshul was once a soldier and teacher to the students who bended in the army. Apparently, Buniq met him during this time, her healing skills just barely surfacing, so her practice was small cuts and many broken bones from the water tribes training.

They were married within a year from what I've heard. Had a child before Bo, he died in the war when he was drafted. His body came back filled with burn marks.

Just from their son dying by the fire nations hands, I wondered why they took me in. I obviously held features of the fire nation. Yet the hatred was not there, for that, I was thankful.

My time in their care was short compared to most in surrogate terms. I came into their care at the age of five, and stayed for seven years, leaving only when Buniq told me I had mastered healing. It was hard learning to heal without any water bending, but I thrived on the art, and I succeeded.

* * *

Shrills rang out through the swamp, and the soft swish of water echoed around the floating house. Buniq was weaving a basket in her hands with careful movements. Nilak was gutting a fish, his face chubby and small red strains were around his eyes, dry tear tracks running down. He was blubbering this morning about not going hunting with our brothers. He was stuck gutting fish with my dead weight and Buniq.

His little whimper brought me forth from taking the scales away from the meat. "Maaaa!" He whined, his fish being tenderly dealt with, his hand limply throwing the head into the bait bucket.

The elder woman simply smiled as she cleaned the four eyed fish, its eyes glazed over, murky like the swamp water. "Hmm, yes little Nilak? Something on your mind?" Her smile was full of mirth, her eyes closing slightly, obviously expecting Nilaks question.

His fingers twiddled slightly as he set down the knife that was rusted from many encounters in the water depths the house floated on. "I was a' thinkin that I uh… should uh, help out with mah brothers in the huntin over in the north side of the uh swamp." The poor boy kept stuttering with his Ma, he kept on saying uh, over and over, and it made me giggle. This caused him to harshly turn around and glare at me for a moment, which led to me trying to hide my humor behind a hand.

The old woman turned to Nilak softly, brushing her white hair behind her ears, with a gentle cough into her hands she shifted her body to angle slightly towards him, her body still holding straight posture in the chair she sat in. "I don't believe that's what you should do." _Cue Nilaks sigh_. "You know its tradition to start hunting at the age of eleven, you only have a year left little Nilak, then Bo can take you out." She laughed slightly when her eyes darted to Nilaks sullen expression. "You're time will come, just you wait." Her eyes glazed over then as she watched the sun glimmer in-between the trees.

I knew of what she spoke of when she talked of the traditions. I myself had done so when I first went hunting, despite not being a water bender. The sound of Harshul reciting a water nation speech as I was plunged underwater back and forth for five minutes.. It was horrifying, but it was a must, a must to be part of the water nation. It was funny, I was from the earth and fire nations, and yet, I was introduced to the water nation with just a mere adoption of a water nation family in the swamps. I flinched a little when I thought of it, it was not a pleasing experience being dunked under water, but it was tradition, and tradition was tradition for a reason.

"But Ma! I'm ten! Just do it a year early please, I'm old enough!"

I was twelve when they did it to me, according to the first bleeds is when a water bending girl is supposed to be given the coming of age ceremony. Boys did it when they were eleven. It was just how things worked in the tradition.

The woman silently looked at her boy, then sighed. "Boy, I swear…" She made a move to stand up, but Nilak screeched when the sound of water bending was heard, he stood, almost tossing the entire catch of fish we were gutting. Buniq sighed a little and continued to gut. I went to go stand, but fell immediately, seeing Harshul being pulled onto the porch of the house by Bo, Cupun, and Kirou. He had a long jagged burn flowing down his side, his sides gasping for breath as Buniq threw her chair and lifted water from the side, healing the wound to the best of her ability.

For the first time, I found that my fire nation heritage was not something to be proud of. Crying was heard through the swamp a lot then, and this is what finally spurred me to leave to offer my skills to the world.

* * *

I actually researched the shit out of these names. I hope they seem real. Been drawing tons of Avatar related characters to get some ideas and writing notes on the side. It's so cool!

I've had several characters pop up, and sadly they've all been very similar compared to this one. This one is my love baby compared to the rest. The rest were water benders with some kind of deer thing going on. It's just weird shit. Nothing as sad as what I want to take this to. But then again I did have a fire bender once. That was very interesting to write. Please don't be offended if my accents suck too, I tried.

Canon characters will not be showing up for a while too, the first one to show up is when she is of sixteen years old, and she's twelve right now. Also, I have quite a bit of this written, so this should be updated perhaps once or twice a week to be nice. About two chapters are written after this, so have fun waiting and welcome to my mass of fics, and have a nice day!

P.S You know what scares the shit out of me and the Avatar universe? Writing about the animals. Yo, also, I'll be borrowing things from several different fanfictions, such as water tribe traditions.


	2. It's A Long Long Way to Ba Sing Se

My first weeks on the road were horrible, people avoided me completely from the stench I emitted from the swamp. I wore ratty clothes that Buniq allowed me to wear. They were blue and were from her days in the Northern Water Tribe. I was mistaken often for water tribe whenever someone had the gall to talk to me. The people who I met were nice, but I found that those who were always nice weren't as well as they were first thought to be.

My feet made harsh scrapping sounds through earth nation soil the weight in my pack was light with all the hides from the swamp in it, coins distributed all through the furs to make sure they didn't jingle. I was admiring the few people I had passed by, a caravan carried ostrich horses, fox antelopes roaming the plains near the train tracks I was following. I lifted my head from my feet when I spied a woman walking in my direction, her body hunched over and wrinkles lining the edges of her eyes. Her hair was nest of brambles on her messed up bun on her head. She almost looked mad, a crazy sort of mad, her body was healthy, no signs of illness, so I don't know what the problem was. Carefully I approached her, and it seemed she did the same for a moment, before beginning her harsh walking. When she approached, I could see finger nail clawing trailing down from her left eye and down the bottom of her jaw, her eye was closed tightly. I stopped when she was in front of me, her face screwed up in pain, but a sneer was evident on her face. Carefully I put a hand out to be harmless.

"Are ya okay?" My swamp accent pervaded through the air, swarming the air with my stink. The woman looked repulsed from it and I sighed a little, it seems that everyone judged those who were different.

She scoffed at me and tried to walk past me. "Perfect! Absolutely perf…!" A loud thump went through the air and I turned around quickly, finding the woman face planted into the soil, her light green clothes dirtied with what looked to be blood and dirt. I tripped while turning around swiftly, my legs falling onto their knees. I turned her over to find her peacefully sleeping, or passed out. I flustered quickly as my hands ghosted quickly over the woman. My hands finding her pulse point quickly to find it was calmly beating, she seemed to be tired, and with my hands ghosting over the scratch on her cheek that had marred her eye, I found that infection had set in. I couldn't just leave her, what if a train came by and she was laying on the tracks!? I harshly began pulling on her, her body making harsh noises as it jumped from being dragged over the metal.

"Oh spirits." I whispered as I dragged her off the tracks. I was obviously going to help her. I had to, there was nothing that would change that. I had to help this woman. But looking down at her… generous amount of fat piled on her body, especially her chest; how in the hell am I going to carry her?! Fidgeting with a scared expression, I spied the bushes near the train way. I could try and weave some kind of carrying device… no, that would take too much time. I huffed and stomped my foot, bringing up dust making me sneeze. It would be better if I was an earth bender like my Dad, I'd be able to make some rock to carry her in, push her alongside the road to Ba Sing Se. Looking to the distance, I could spot nothing on the horizon, not the walls of Ba Sing Se, where I grew for a measly five years, and learning the songs spoke in the streets. I remember hearing my Dad sing Secret Tunnel to Mom. I remember the way he looked at her with such love as she swooned, to the point where she fell over and he picked her up. My cheeks went red thinking of them, despite not knowing them well, they birthed me, raised me, and protected me to the end. I should give them credit…. But… I looked down at the woman. I can't drag her; I'm twelve for spirits sake! I crouched and pulled at her with my hands under her armpits. Making sure to take some lemur furs and shove them under her back as I pulled her upright against a rock. I fixed her arms to where they were positioned in her lap, making sure she was at least comfortable looking. I stepped back and rested my hands on my flat hips, smirking.

Now! To do away with those cuts on her face, I trotted away and pulled out my small book from the satchel resting on my hip, pulling open to infections I searched for anything in the earth kingdom that would help. Alright…. That bush can help. I picked my head from my book, stopping my walking. Nope, no wild, secret native bush… Lots of grass though. I leafed through the booklet, coming to earth nation grasses. Okay, there's the green one with dry stalks at the top, those are… with a glance up, they showed everywhere, and that made me smile. Now, it tells me to make it into a mash, and my mortal and pestle are in my bag.

Skipping around the field, I grabbed the grass and folded the stalks into my mouth, chewing on it furiously as I made my way over to the woman. My feet ached from walking bare foot on the ground, I was so used to the porch on the house boat, and the mud that was all around the swamp that this stable ground hurt my feet. Probably less than it would be if I wore shoes most of my life.

I spat the pulp into my hand when I reached the woman, she seemed to be fidgeting a little bit in her sleep. Carefully I kneeled down beside her, my knees touching the ground, the rocks digging into my ligaments. With my calloused hands, I began rubbing the pulp into the cuts, and her face scrunched up slightly in her sleep. I rubbed it in slowly, my spit bubbling up at the edges. I tenderly rubbed it in, watching the woman fidget with pain, her lips pursed. With a soft sigh, I knew that she most likely wouldn't wake up for a while, she seems as if she was exhausted. I moved around and began digging through my pack, she needs bandages for her eye, it looks like something hit inside her eye socket, or maybe it was scratched? Eyes are fragile things, so I don't think there's much I could do right now. Whenever I practiced on animals in the swamps, Buniq always had me remove the eye whenever they came in with an injured eye. There's nothing I can think of that would help it. I scrunched up my face and began putting bandages around her head, making sure her other eye was open to see.

I sat down and looked to the sky, it would be dark soon, and soon she would wake up. With a gentle pat to her head, I sat down and began making a fire, carefully arranging rocks in a circle.

I had a feeling this was going to be a long night.

* * *

The crickets created a distant symphony in the night, the fire creating crackles to harmonize. I curled up against screeching lemur furs, the warmth of the fire lighting both of our bodies. It comforted me, just like the earth did. My brown hair flowed from my head, the locks slightly tangled. I chewed at my thumb, watching the woman who twitched occasionally in her sleep. Her black hair seemed like it was once pretty, but now it was a rats nest. I blinked curiously at her. Should I grab some more of the grass to keep in my pack? I would think it would do well to keep it there in case I needed it for future use, perhaps when I reached there I could set them aside to hang in the house I planned to buy. From what I remember, a house wouldn't be hard to buy; we lived in a nice house when I first recall Ba Sing Se as a young girl.

A sharp gasp emitted from the woman across me, my fingers automatically clutching at the furs. Her eyes wildly looked around like a scared Moose Lion, she bolted forward and eyed around the tracks, then to the fire, where I was residing. Her skin was pale and she touched her face to feel the bandage covering her eye, she swiveled her body to me, yet it was so weak. She looked like Harshul when he was sick, except she didn't fake moan about wanting Buniq's leech soup that he oh so craved all the time.

"What did you do to me?" The woman scowled at me, I felt myself cower under her a little, but soon raised myself up, knowing that if you backed down from an animal that you would most likely be run down by their dominance... Literally.

I stood up, taking a small step towards her, my hand rummaging through the pack that was around my waist. I pulled a piece of bread out and gave her half of my loaf. "I did nothin, you fainted on those tracks and I thought… you should be taken care of, instead of just lying there in the middle of train tracks, what if a train ran on through?!" I touched my cheeks with horror when I walked back to my side of the fire, chewing on the heel of my bread with tiny nibbles to make it last longer.

"What's your name little girl?" The woman spoke, bread crumbs falling onto her pale breasts as she chewed fast and with loud noises. She kind of reminded me of an animal, trying to survive.

"Roshan." My accent was nonexistent when I said my name, Buniq made sure of that, wouldn't sound so good if people tried to call me 'Rashav' or something else they would try and pronounce with my accent.

She raised a thin plucked brow that had a few stray hairs etching their way outside the once perfectly plucked area. "Roshan you say? The names Natsuko." She mumbled through her bread that she shoved quickly in her mouth. She seemed friendly enough, seemed like she liked me. Suddenly, I was giddy, I could have my first friend outside the swamp! Not that the brothers weren't my friends, they were, well, my brothers!

I shoved my own bread quickly in my mouth, eager to eat it and open myself for conversation, while swallowing huge chunks that made me almost choke a few times. "Natsuko, what ya doin walkin around out here?" The woman straightened up, but winced, most likely from being sore from my dragging her and falling over on metal tracks. She moved a hand behind her back to adjust the furs, she furrowed her brows for a second then placed her hands in her laps like Buniq sometimes did.

"Don't know girl, why you asking about it?" Her tone left ice shattering through the air and I flinched back. I remembered her tone, that tone was the one that happened whenever I did something very bad when I was still living with my Mom and Dad. I stared at her with a concerned look for my safety.

"Just askin cause I'm curious, no disrespect meant ma'm." I paused, watching her eyes glide across me. I waved a hand in front of my face. "Just makin mah way to Ba Sing Se where…"

"The girls are oh so pretty?" She chuckled at my crest fallen expression when I just tilted my head at her. She shrugged her shoulders and laughed a little. "Guess that song is a little vulgar, despite your accent, you seem like a noble enough."

I just stared at her with a crestfallen expression, staring up at the woman who seemed to be in a great deal of pain, despite that, she was at least trying to be nice. "Could ya…" I stopped for a second. "Teach me the song?"

She chuckled and moved her legs by stretching them for a second with a deep contented groan under her lips.

_"It's a long, long way to Ba Sing Se,_

_But the girls in the city they look so pretty!"_

I startled and yelled out loudly with a sound that could be translated to that of telling someone to slow down. I pulled my herbal book out of my small packet and began writing down the song on the open pages in the very back, furiously scratching things down and charcoal smudging my entire palm.

I really liked Natsuko.


	3. Work Your Magic Swamp Girl

With a soft humbling sigh, Natsuko wandered forward stiffly, her legs walking straight as she traveled towards Ba Sing Se, the tracks were hot under my bare feet when I hopped from the one to another. My grin was stretched with all the weight of a feather… y'know, except for the heavy pack carrying all of my stuff. Natsuko was walking with her curves rippling in two different directions, moving slowly in a rotating movement as she walked.

She glanced back at me, then down at my bare feet. "What are you, half earth bender?" She snorted at her own joke as she continued walking, despite her being true. I giggled slightly at her confused expression when I nodded at her, she looked stunned for a moment. "You mean to say… your from two Nations?"

Tilting my head, I curiously watched her as she fell back to talk to me. "You mean that's not normal?" I glanced at her when she gaped at me and shook her head in obvious confusion at me being two nations. "Hmm, well, my Dad was an Earth bender, Mom was uh…" I paused.

_Buniq looked down at me when I was happily telling Harshul about my Mom, she looked down at me in disappointment, and I felt that I had done something wrong to the healing bird in the cage. From those thoughts, a great horror spread through me. But she merely put a hand on my shoulder, bringing me over to sit with her while she gutted and skinned lemurs and fish._

_"Hmm, remember when we had that talk about the Fire Nation?" I nodded, obviously confused that she wasn't talking about the bird. "Do you recall when I told you that telling people your part Fire Nation would get you in big trouble?" Another nod was thrown her way, but confusion still dotted my face, she sighed softly and smoothed my hair down like all the family did here on the house boat. "Telling those you are part Fire Nation can get you killed, and locked up. It's not good to tell people. It's fine with **Family **like us though. But no one else dear. Fire Nation is not something to be proud of these days, and I would rather you be secluded from the horrors that would get to you if you were to tell anyone exactly what is your heritage."_

_I held my hands up and she looked at me curiously then. "Wait, so this isn't about the uh bird?"_

_She cackled like the witch she was._

"Your Mom?" Natsuko spoke this softly, as if she was afraid to startle me, but it didn't help as she did so, breaking me from my memories. She sounded as if she was afraid I was going to break into pieces if I continued.

"She died when I was young, I don't member' much about her, I think she was uh... Water nation though." The lie fell through my teeth awkward and tense, yet the woman did not seem to notice. She seemed to accept my tensed muscles as those to be grief and hurt.

The tracks glittered in the light from the sun, the fox gazelles merrily grazed through the rolling grasses that swayed with the breeze that rolled through the earth nation at a steady pace, almost lazy like with its soft whooshes. Natsuko was chewing on a piece of grass, her one eye swiveling round with alertness. Whenever I made a noise, or accidently tripped, she seemed to freeze up, frightened almost. I was quiet, I know that, but I wasn't that quiet to where I gained a reaction just by making a small squeak when I saw a baby fox gazelle, or a baby moose lion in the distance.

C'mon, baby fox gazelles and moose lions are cute, there is no doubt about it. If moose lions weren't so aggressive, I'd try and keep one for a pet.

Natsuko suddenly sat down in the dirt, her body causing dust to billow around as she huffed, her hand going up to scratch at the bandage at her eye. When she brought her hand down, I could see a small trickle of blood fall from underneath the bandage, staining it slightly. I sharply went to her and bended in front of her. Sweat was pooling over her brow and her breasts were heaving from the weight that was on her chest.

"Gotta fix ya eye again, would be better to remove it than fight with it." I spoke softly, my swamp accent trying to soothe her into a calmness. She glared up at me for a second, and then wiped the sweat that pooled in the crease of her globes of fat. She loosened the robe on her body to get more of the breeze.

"Don't think you should touch my eye anymore little girl, just… let me rest for a little bit would you?"

I nodded, almost ashamed with myself as I swooped myself down to her level to sit, my butt hitting the dirt with a soft whoosh. I toyed with the small braid that was tied right next to my ear, most of my brown wavy hair hid it from view most of the time, but it was special to me. My brothers had braided it before I had left, and gave me the old wood crafted from wood in the porch, of course, Buniq didn't know they took it. They took turns braiding the single long strand that had reached the middle of my back. I made sure to part it separately when I brushed my hair, undoing it to only brush that area and rebraid that selected area. It was special to me, and through the years I would live, I would make sure that it always remained braided and cared for.

Suddenly, I bolted from my thoughts, dropping the braided piece of hair that felt coarse under my fingers. The smell of coal and the sound of an engine filled my ears. In the distance, a train was headed our way, to Ba Sing Se. I looked quickly over to Natsuko who stood up quickly. She had a determined look on her face, her body was weak, and I didn't understand why. Her body was wracked with shivers, yet her skin felt warm to the touch.

When the green outside of the car sped past us, I watched the amazed faces or sullen looking ones watch us, I gaped at their attire and looks, so different from the swamp tribes I had grown used to. The cars rushed by in a sharp screech, my mouth opening to find Natsuko jumping and clinging to the side of the car, her hand furiously waved at me and I started to run after her, my feet trying to catch up with the hulking speed of metal. Natsuko was climbing after me with a fast pace towards my form that was slowly falling behind, and in an act of kindness, she reached a hand out and I grabbed it, clinging to her side with my face shoved in her breasts. Her body smelled of earth benders and I calmed at the smell while my heart beat rapidly to the pace of the iron rails passing under us.

With her clinging to me, we scurried into an empty car filled with straw, drowning out our tiredness with a soft slumber.

* * *

I woke up with Natsuko trying to cough something out of her throat. Her body was hunched over in the straw and her hands were supporting her body against the ground and I worriedly shuffled my way to her, my hands touching her back in a comforting motion that I desperately wanted her to feel. Her face was streaked in tears as I felt a hand try and cling to my arm. The soft curves of her nails creating crescent shaped indents.

"What's wrong with ya?" My desperation reeking through my voice. I couldn't help it, fear was clouding my common sense, and it made me even more scared. Buniq always said to keep a clear mind when dealing with a patient, and from this, I don't think I could handle it; I couldn't handle this at all. I tried to rub soothing circles on her back, but my hand shook and I believe she felt it. Her coughs didn't stop for almost an hour, and when she finally did, she collapsed on her side with ragged intakes going into her lungs.

"Mahhh, are ya okay there Natsuko? Sounds like ya took a tumble there…" The woman looked up at me with a glare, her hand clutching desperately to her chest while the other examined the blood that coated her hands. She stuck her hand out to me, the hay clinging to her knotted hair as she shook it in front of me.

"Does it look like I'm okay? You stupid healer, just heal me." She growled this out to me, and I flinched back, only for her to advance slowly to me in her weak state. How could a woman this weak pull herself to me? I felt her pulse, the throb of it not at all steady, weak and hardly trying to push its way that would mark her as being healthy in healer's eyes. I cautiously looked into her eyes, curious as to what would be ailing her. "Come on, heal me!" Her throat was crackling with what I guessed was left over blood, the bubbles popping within her body like a sick child caught with the flu. Her body draped across my clothed legs and I felt tears fall from my eyes. Her breath was ragged, and I had only seen this once in the swamp. It was a woman who was old, yet not loved by many. She died with speckled blood on her robes and lemur furs cradled her into the Spirit World. She was told she was long dead when she came with a sickness from Ba Sing Se.

I softly cried with tears that were silent to any ears that could have listened. "I can't heal what is already gone" When I said those words, her own mouth parted in shock. Her hands grasping the edges of my robes to where they rested comfortably against my collarbone.

"No, you have to heal me. You look like a water bender, just heal bend me or whatever! Go, do it!" tears began leaking from her eyes in small tracks that caused her body to splutter with shivers. "Please, I can't go out like this!" Her hands fell from my clothes in a heap, her eyes staring at the top of the train cabin. "Come on Swamp girl, work your magic… You can.." And soon, she was coughing weakly on her splutters of blood coating my hands and hers. When her coughs stopped just a moment later, she began speaking softly. "Swamp girl, this gunk I've got in me, it's from Ba Sing Se." She coughed again, waving her hand, her eyes spinning around rapidly as if she was lost in a drunken haze. "Stay away from the Dai Li. Bastards took something from me, just… can't remember what." Confusion drifted over her words as her brows furrowed deeply into her forehead.

Her eyes stared up at the ceiling of the car as we sat there, eventually, her body drifted onto sleep. I couldn't help to stay awake for a little while longer. The small cracks in the old earth bending train car revealed the stars above, and with a slight peek, I swear I could see an outline of Ba Sing Se. With a soft yawn, I relaxed against the rock of the car, my back resting to it comfortably as Natsuko rested comfortably in my lap, her mouth uttering crackly breaths.

* * *

This story is going to be updated once I week I believe, I make sure to write a chapter ahead during the week in-between. The update time will be Wednesday, and I will make sure to write in an Author Note when this update will stop happening. This chapter is very short for various plot reason, my apologies.


	4. Natsuko

I gasped, my breath coming in short quick gasps. It didn't help that I was choking on tears too. Dirt splayed itself over my clothes that were no longer a dark vibrant blue, but a dulled muddy color. My hair was pulled behind me, my braid hanging over my skin, its body sticking to my slick skin. The dirt hole I was in was relatively comfortable compared to that of the sun beating on me. The stench of tobacco hit my nose, causing me to mumble in regret of leaving my swamp family, this world was too hard, and even those who looked to be the strongest did not survive it seemed.

With one last fling of dirt from my bare hands I crawled out of the hole I dug. Gasping still as I reacted harshly to the heat of the sun bearing its love upon me harshly. My eyes glared into the distance to see the wavy lines only heat waves did in the desert. With a turn, Ba Sing Se's large walls towered over me. Showing me the grandness that I was once lived in. With a soft sigh, and me moving the sleeves of my robe up to my shoulders, tightening robe over it to allow it to stay in place.

Her pale and cold skin touched my calloused hands with a shock. Natsuko had glassy eyes that were hidden behind her closed eyelids. Her body made a loud thump as I rolled her into the grave, jumping down after her to allow for proper hand placement that an earth burial would come with. I moved her hands to her sides, making them clutch the earth. It was the same way my Father had been buried, this time without a casket, and her hands grasping actual earth instead of dirt brought to be grasped in his hands. I climbed out of the hold and began piling dirt with handfuls, my breath uttering broken and cracked lyrics I had memorized many years ago, those same words written down in my pocket herbal book.

_"__Two Lovers forbidden from one another,_

_A war divides their people,_

_And a mountain divides them apart,_

_Built a path to be together, and die."_

A few tears went down my fat chubby cheeks, flowing down like the rivers in the swamp, filled with acrid smell and taste, but filled with unknown wonders.

_"__Secret Tunnel~_

_Secret Tunnel,_

_Through the Mountain,_

_Secret,_

_Secret.._

_Secret…_

_secret tunnel….."_

Softly, somewhere, where the winds carried, people could hear soft cries of muttered agony, twisting their softness into the air with a cruelty.


	5. Secret At the End of the Tunnel

_My pillow was soaked with silent tears as I listened to the sound of the swamp, the chattering of Screeching lemurs and birds floated through the open window. Suddenly, water lifts from under my face and I bolt to see Harshul standing there with a somber expression, he's bending the tears I shed in his hand that he pulled from the pillow. I gasp and stare at him._

_"__Why are you crying Roshan?"_

_I meekly look down as he picks me up and sets me on his lap, petting my hair as I leaned against his chest. _

_"__I'm different from you all, I can't bend and Mom could bend fire, no one likes fire benders… you should just hate me." I meekly said this to him, sniffling before I shoved my face into his chest with frightened sobs._

_He merely chuckled and slowly smoothed my hair down and began braiding it._

_"__You are not different, you are one of us. And no nation Is going to change that."_

_Strangely, I didn't notice he had threw his accent away._

_"__How'd you know there was water on my pillow from crying?"_

_"__Oh, you know, it's a parent thing." He waved his hand with a meek smile_

* * *

"Hey, girl, you alright?"

I looked up in the day, my eyes blurry as I looked up at earth nation soldiers, their Ostrich Horses awful calm during what seemed to be a patrol. I glanced down at Natsuko's grave, the rocks lining her grave on the outside of the overturned dirt. Blood was splattered on the rocks I had scavenged harshly for. My hands were cut and broken from digging at dry earth.

"Mah friend died is all sirs." I spoke softly, rubbing the overturned dirt softly between my hands. It was silent when I said those words, only the sound of squeaking leather riddled my ears with sound. My eyes were still blurry with the shedding of my tears, the ground wavering before my like the heat waves when looking across the earth nations flat desert. When I clenched my hands into my water nation robe, I felt the dirt and blood crackle and move slightly with an uncomfortable feeling. When I spared a glance forward towards the soldiers, they had dismounted their ostrich horses and were holding hands over their hearts, loose dirt spilling from their hands. I smiled with a wide grin, happy that someone at least mourned her instead of it just being me.

For moments, I sat and prayed to the Spirits that they took mercy on her in the spirit world. But finally, when I looked up at the men again, they had finished mourning her death. They looked down at me and the younger man, who had a soft looking face compared to the older sterner man beside him. "Where are you going traveler?" His eyes were melting into my soul like soft butter, allowing me to be at the very least, comforted by him in this stage of grief that I feel that I shouldn't have felt, I only knew her for two days for spirits sake.

"Ba Sing Se." My voice parted from my throat with a croak worthy of that from the frozen frogs in the swamp when they melted in the glaring heat of the morning sun. The man looked down at me with pity, and I caught behind his wide hat shading him, Ba Sing Se, her glorious walls erupting from the sands like a savior. I stood up, and felt one of the men grab onto my hand, pulling me astride his ostrich horse, wordlessly taking me towards the city that I hoped would allow a new leaf to be pushed into my direction. Hopefully.

* * *

Quietly I waved to the two men who were returning to the barracks, their clothes crunching together from the leather and metal that was crafted into a form of protecting their bodies. Buniq said that armor was the Spirits gifts to healers. I believed it when I caught eye of a man once with a large bruise where a breastplate would be. Surely a bruise is better than a huge gaping wound.. is it not? Surely it is, no matter the case.

I was left in the middle ring as it was called. I remembered it, distantly when I was a young girl toddling around with my Mom. This was the ring that the lower aspired to, and the higher looked at without a care when passing them in the street. I felt dirt kick up with my heels, creating fine swirling patterns behind me. The city was amazing, covered in buildings made of wood, but mostly stone from the earth benders crafting their own homes. I softly sighed as I found the earth clogging my nose, the dust causing snot to clutter and try to run. I brushed my nose with my sleeve, my feet allowing me to enter a grated bazaar, various venders talking about their wares and children scurrying around the skirts of Mothers. Just like I used to do, crawling under and around her clothed body.

I thoughtfully tapped a finger against my chin. I needed food, and a place to eat, and maybe bathe. I needed to get this scent off of me. The scent of death and swamp. I must have reeked, but those around me walked by me without a care in the world. Perhaps the stale perfume Natsuko had rubbed on me, but surely such a thing would have worn out by now, right? I wandered through the area, finding the array of cloths pleasing to the eye, the reds were different from the sunsets I had come to know. And the blues! Brighter than when water was boiled to be clean!

My eyes danced wildly as I made way to the deeper part of the market, finding myself around a fortune teller, her wrinkled hands hovered over a glass ball as a few girls clutched themselves close to her, their breaths uttering small whispers of hope and love. I eagerly pushed my way through, the final fortune being read from the geisha who lovingly looked down at the tarot cards spread before her. The woman left with sighs of love and longing. With her leaving, the fortune teller rubbed her glass ball with a comforting smile; she looked at the pack of ravenous girls hoping for their fortune to be told. Her eyes pointed to mine immediately, and with a jingle of her many bracelets; she beckoned me over with her hand. I shyly came forward, cheeks dusted with dirt that seemed an odd red color. Her hum was appreciate towards my features, rounded cheeks of earth nations woman, and the sharpness of my chin and eyes from the fire nation. My awkward build came from the strange mix of my heritage, boney and gangly, no grace or strongness appeared except for my shoulders that were wide and graced with a dip a geisha was often seen in paintings with. The rest of my body was oddly proportioned, I swore my left leg was longer than the right.

"I see something great in your future young one." Her voice cackled like an old witch, I felt compelled to stand next to her and bid to her every wish. She reminded me of Buniq, with that, I believe that she would offer me some kind of lesson like Buniq did every day. Her hands jingled with the gold against each other, occasionally a few clanging into bright jewels. The girls around us hushed as the woman spoke to me, eagerly looking on with glassy eyes. "Let me see your hands child."

I hesitantly moved my hands forward, holding them in a cup. Her weathered hands wandered through the soft creases, caressing the broken finger nails. Part of her hand rubbed against the blood on my pale skin, easing the mixture of sweat, dirt, and blood away with some of her spit to see my pale skin. A woman on the right side of me remarked how my skin looked like curdled milk. The fortune teller regarded the woman with a simple nod, grasping my hands gently.

"It seems by the stars in the sky and the lines in your palm that your future will happen sooner than you think." Her eyes took a glance towards my satchel on my waist, the small leather book revealing the faded golden letters to her eyes, yet I took no notice. "A healer who will heal a great many people in this war." Her hand patted mine. "May you serve a great purpose in your fate." She released my hands and I was releases in the throng of woman, watching the woman flip a tarot card into her hands, meeting the eyes of someone in the crowd. I scurried away with hands touching my cheeks with a smile blossoming across my face. Happy as could be, despite the heavy weight of Natsuko still resting upon my shoulders.

* * *

I threw a cry of pain into the air as I felt my belongings be savagely taken from me. A bunch of wild flurries of earth caused my body to fly and skid to lay on my side. My jaw moved strangely with the added weight of bone moving through my mouth. I spit a gunk of blood and a back molar out of my mouth to the ground, the sound of the jingling of my coins and lemur furs being taken. I stared wide eyed at the grungy wall in front of me, the smooth stone of earth bending seen erupting from the ground. The pale earthy brown did not comfort me like it once did when I was a young girl cradled in warm stone as a babe, shushed with warm robes that came from my mother.

I didn't move for what felt like an hour, when I did shift, pain blossomed upon my shoulder, my eyes twitching with a wince from the blood pooling under my skin. When I looked across the ground towards my pack, I found it empty, save for a torn muddied fur lying beside it. I wretched it harshly and cradled it against my stained chest, my hair moving wildly around me in dirt filled locks laced with ribbons of blood.

It was gone, it was all gone. My livelihood was gone. My money Buniq so kindly had given me was gone, the furs my brothers had skinned were all gone. Gone from measly pickpockets trying to beat the coins literally out of me. I gripped the skirt of my robe, crying out in the air.

* * *

Pains grew focused on a region of my stomach close to in-between my hip bones. I knew there was no blood to be pooling there right now, I had passed that time much earlier on the road. These were not bleeding pains, but hunger pains. Pains that swirled around my body in a horrible manner. I gagged bile into a side street, stopping in my procession of the lower ring for a moment. A few stragglers watched me for a moment, then moved on with their lives. A satchel on my side held my herbal book, cradled with the muddy lemur fur I desperately tried to wash earlier in the week. My cheeks were crusted with dirt, the only clear spots were those that were washed away by tears. I clutched the cloth around my midsection, willing for the hunger to go away and be replaced with the pangs of bleedings, they were welcomed much more than these stabs.

I stumbled further in the alley, falling to my knees when I found water resting upon the top of a metal bucket. My throat eagerly lowered to it as I slurped it carefully. I didn't even feel a stray drop trickle down my chin or on my hand, everything just cascaded down my sore throat muscles. When I could not find anymore, I laid my arms across the damp surface, reveling in the cool surface of it, softly smiling at the aching that was pulled from my sore body as the coldness seemed to draw it out, reminded me of the swamp with how the cold air touched my skin. A soft sigh drew from my lips like tap water out of a faucet in fancy homes. For once in this horrible week, _I smiled._

A gasp pulled through my strangled lungs, smoke being blown into my face as my eyes bursted open, residue from my eyes cracking at the edges. _I must have fallen asleep._

My surroundings were the same, but at the same time, different looking. Darkness was found in the corners, yet lights of cigarettes bursted through the dull smoke blown in my face. In the distance I could see various lanterns from green and other patterns lighting up the streets.

"Hmm, lookie here, a stray one wandering about."

I startled, watching shamefully dressed women looked down at me, watching me with their curious eyes as they waved fans across their faces. They circled around my slumped body, poking at my exposed shoulder, and sharp chin that I held upwards staring at the scantily dressed woman in wonder. They were beautiful. Laced in gold were they're eyelids, sparkles shimmering from their skin. When they moved the stars seemed to gasp from above, it seemed the moon spirit was even watching them with a curious gaze. I was absolutely astounded by the beauty of these woman.

They were just _too_ beautiful.

"Looks like she could a' kill the men in the east side of the ring, don't ya think?"

The other woman of the two nodded quite eagerly. "Fire nation attributes upon her skin and shoulders, don't you think? My, have you seen her chin?! Hard to achieve that breeding in the nobles of earth kingdom… hmm, perhaps send her to Levi."

"Might spiffy a coin you think?" The other woman who was the more beautiful of the two crouched in front of me, tilting her head as she took a gourd from her side, uncorked it and water bended water over my face. She sprayed the dirtied water away from us when she was done, her warm tanned skin ghosted over my cheeks, touching the thick eyebrows that dominated my forehead, then finally my thick hair that was knotted. Except for my braid.

"Yah." The accented girl whipped her black hair behind her, allowing a shimmer of glitter to show from her exposed shoulders. She didn't sound from the swamp, so her accent was very strange and seductive to my ears. I was used to hearing normal and then the swamp accent. It confused me horribly. "Girls gotta go to the baths first and have i'r hair brushed and groomed on up." The accent woman waved her fan across her face, blowing another wave of smoke through the air then she split through it with her fan. Very suddenly I was lifted, the sudden difference of height and movement caused me to gag very violently. "That and sum food to put in that stomach." The accented woman began walking away, leaving me with the brown haired woman. Her hands were grasping harshly against my clothed arms, practically dragging me in various twists and turns of alleys. Her breath left in quick pants, reminding me of how a woman with child sounded like in the beginning of labor. Her eyes glanced at me occasionally, when we met eyes, I lowered them quickly only for me to watch her in the edges of my vision, her eyes watching me curiously.

We finally reached a door that was made of earth, a quick rapping of different toned knocks and pattern allowed for the slat of earth to fall, a man watching us carefully as she stepped in, the door closing behind us quickly. I smelled perfume and musk reach my nose, yet incense overpowered most of it in this room.

"Come ere to spice me up?" The lanky man chirped at the girl holding me, his hand resting on his crotch like it was a some special thing.

The woman rolled her eyes then spat at him. "No, here to take a new girl to Levi." She glanced down at the mans hand, scrunched her nose and looked up at the man with her chin in the air. "Now take your hand off there." She swatted her hands in the air like a swatting motion as she began walking, her footsteps tapping against the dust filled ground with soft puffs of swirling clouds of dust. "Else you start thinking you have a prize cock in a _hen_ show!" The man gaped as we rushed out of the room in a flurry of robes and skirts. Her chuckle allowed me to figure she was awful proud of her words. But as soon as I was to smile at her, we were in a room filled with woman lounging about. Smoke drifted through the air, pale and tanned thighs, clinking of gold echoed through the room. A few woman stopped, glancing at my body.

"Hmm, new one you picked off the street lass?" An older woman with striking eyes and pale hair watched me, the pale hair must have been done with chemicals, for it wasn't normal looking. Her blue eyes bounced across my body for a moment, finding nothing of ill repute from what I could decipher in her gleaming eyes. A puff of smoke reclaimed the air from her lips, slipping through her cracked skin and edges of her mouth.

The woman who had me by the arm carefully readjusted her grip, a short and brisk nod reached my eyes and soon I was being dragged across the room to a water basin. Woman of all types were naked over here, brushing each other's hair, placing soap upon one another's shoulders, and cleaning their wounds together.

I shivered as the woman sat me down on the ground, my knees buckling under me with weak will. A quick flurry of excitement erupted around the room as the sudden movements caused me to have blurry vision. My robes were parted from my body, the sash and cloth being taken away and pushed towards a woman with laundry. I tried to cover myself but bread was pushed into my hands, that of which I slowly began to devour. Hands scrubbed every inch of me, dirt pooling around us from the drain that was built into the floor, the dust and dirt twirling around us in a watery doom. Soft and calloused hand scrubbed the layered dirt off of my body. There was hands brushing through my hair, my hand clutched onto the braid that was almost tugged away from my body. I didn't understand, why were these woman so nice to me? They were treating me as if I was a sister in their eyes, washing with me in the river basin for nudity was not ashamed in the swamp.

Usually.

Well, at least not with Buniq.

Poor woman's children ran naked through the swamps while they fished.

I felt a water basin tilt over my head. The water cascading down my body, rippling over the ribs now showing over my skin like a washboard. Their hands smoothed against my milky skin, marveling at the paleness that showed without the yellow and browning stains from dirt. A water bender nearby bended the water from my hair, making it dry. Mom used to heat up her hands to dry her hair, one time, one of my brothers tried it to himself and nearly burnt his head off. I've never had one of the boys do this to their hair though, they always walked around with stringy hair.

A woman gently allowed for my dry hair to rest over my shoulders. A lady looked at the leather tie I had, she gently reached out to touch it and I flinched, not wanting the woman to touch one of the few things I had left of my family. The women drew back until all was left was the woman who dragged me in. She held a silk robe that carried the prints of what looked to be badger moles. The green silk shimmered in the light, the lighter sea foam green edges allowed for a beautiful touch. She wrapped the thing around me delicately, my skin shivered in delight from the soft silky texture. The woman slowly lifted me up, my knees still weak to hold myself up, but I managed with shaky vision and slight opened lips that drew air in as if it believed water would part itself from the air into my stomach. My bare feet slowly allowed me entry to a door on the far side of the room. It led us down a long hallway full of doors and breathy moans that drifted behind doors full of sleeping woman, their bodies cleaned from the paints that they adjourned themselves with. Finally, the door we turned down led us to a room with a large desk and chairs seated in front of it. My old clothes were laid on one chair, I scurried over to it, no matter how weak I felt. The blonde slowly drifted to a side door, knocked and went and sat next to me.

It was only several moments before I slim man with equally slicked back black hair walked into the room. His golden eyes pierced me as he circled and leaned on his desk, watching us through the pale slit of his eyes. "Refugee or city born?" His first question made me tilt my head, making him repeat it.

"I was born ere'." My accent drifted through the room and the woman next to me flinched from the harsh glare that the man lashed upon her, his eyes fell onto me quickly as he bit at his thumb.

"What's with the strange accent _city born_?" his glare reached into the pits of my soul, making me flinch as well. He didn't believe me, why didn't he believe me?

"Taken in as a youngin in the swamps, born an' raised ov'er here most of mah life."

The man chuckled and looked me up and down, then he lazily moved his hand up, silently asking for me to stand. I did so and he sighed a little bit. "Sounds like your spitting gunk out of your teeth with that accent, makes me want to set this whole building on fire." He lazily lifted a flame towards a candle next to his hips. He looked at the woman next to me, and she as well stood up. "Take them off, need to see if she's as fine looking as the rest of her body."

I was confused at first, then the next moment I felt the silk robes being dropped to the floor. Pure undaunted fear spread through my being then. I was so stupid, I had not noticed the signs of where I was, as soon as the man began circling me, I clenched my eyes shut with a fierceness, awaiting the touch of his hands that Buniq had once warmed me of men. Not those of my brothers, but soldiers, and wanton men wanting nothing but a bed mate for ten minutes or an entire evening.

This pure fear of awaiting the touch that I feel would scorch me allowed for me to be hyper aware of my surroundings, the surroundings that I swore were heating up ever so slowly. I awaited the scorching hand that did not touch, yet I could feel the presence of, the presence of evil and foreboding.

So this is _what_ the fire nation was like.

"Hands are too calloused, throw her out."

And so _this_ is what relief is.

* * *

I was thrown into the paved alley way, my arms growing with red welts from the scraping stone. My animal hide boots Buniq made for me were thrown at me. The rough soles hit my head and I groaned loudly, feeling the dizziness fall upon me body. Why couldn't they have given me more to eat while I was there? Why couldn't that fire nation man just given me a decent meal before throwing me out? Why couldn't there be….

**THUNK**

There was my satchel… I believe? With a brown haired boy standing in front of me? What?

"Another one bites the dust." He muttered as my eyesight darkened around the edges and I got tunnel vision, distantly I started listing the rest of the symptoms of passing out.

* * *

This is a present, a chapter that is worth two chapters by the amount of words in it, and that I placed it upon the world of fanfiction a day earlier than my update schedule, which by the way, this story won't be updated week to week. Whoops.

Have a good day and or night!


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